Aug 7 Oberalppass and Anniversary dinner in Trin

Yesterday (Aug 6) we celebrated our 49th anniversary by driving to Andermatt and then over the Oberalppass to the village of Trin. Our hosts, Rob and Ingrid, greeted us and served us coffee on their patio. In the evening, to celebrate our anniversary, we drove a narrow road into the valley to the old Trin train station where there is a small restaurant. Pretty much only the locals know about it (it is not in the gps). Ingrid recommended it and made reservations for us at 7:30. Barb ordered schnitzel with pommes fritz and I ordered a dish called Capuns (a local favorite).

Not having this perspective from the road, I had to
borrow this image of Oberalppass from the internet.

Villages in the valley on the way to Trin

The old train Staziun (station) in Trin.

Part of the adventure was getting to it on the narrow road.

The anniversary dinner in the old Staziun.

Our reserved table.

Alcohol free apple wine

Tomato salad with cheese

Capun dish and Schnitzel and Pommes Fritz 

My Proverbs 31: 27-30 bride who somehow 

has put up with me for 49 years!

Aug 6 Etal Reding Manor and the farm

Yesterday it was rainy so we visited the Ital Reding manor in Schwyz. For 500 years (pre-19th centuries) Schwyz was a mercenary recruiting and training region. Providing mercenaries was a profitable business and the men wo supplied them built lavish manors in Schwyz.  This manor with the long attached barn was built by Ital Reding in 1609.

Interior ceiling in the "great room"

The tile furnace for heating

Windows on the barn near the manor entrance

In those earlier centuries, Switzerland was a poor country and many of the young men were recruited as mercenaries for foreign kings and war lords.  They were paid well for their service and were known as loyal and fierce fighters and defenders. The famous lion sculpture memorial in Lucerne commememorates the Swiss mercenaries that were killed in service of the king during the French Revolution. It is a story worth a Google search

Before returning to the farm, we took a 10 mile drive up a valley to the village of Muotathal and passed this mountainside water cascade  Falls like this are almost "routine" in the Alps regions.

A miscellaneous note: Schwyz is where the Swiss pocket knife was invented

For dinner last night, my favorite chef (Barb) fixe raclette (potatoes with Emmental cheese) and stir fried veggies served with some Apfelsprudel (carbonated apple juice). A quiet little dinner in the farm house apt is as good as the best restaurant in Schwyz. :-)

Okay, now I will give you a chance to roll your eyes. Yes, we really did stay on a real Swiss farm. Yes, there really were cows grazing outside of our kitchen window Yes, there was an old barn and cats and flies (not too many) and barn smells (not in the house) and green meadows and steep hill sides and, yes, cow recyled hay.

The cows in the old barn

Cow recycled hay

Our hostess Frau Fassbind (about 80) raking hay on the hillside

(much steeper than the picture shows - the camera was tilted up)

An older barn on the hillside above the farm

(it took some huffing and puffing on our part to get to it)

This shows a little better how steep the hillside was

Sunset from the farm house balcony

Today we will leave the farm in Schwyz and travel to Trin, a small village near Chur in eastern Switzerland

Aug 5 Managing the cost and Zug

There is no question that for those of us from the midwest, Switzerland is expensive. 

In 1982 (the year we lived in Switzerland) the exchange rate was 2 Swiss Francs (CHF) per dollar. So if something was priced at 100 CHF, it actually only cost us $50. But now the exchange rate is 1 to 1 so 100 CHF equals $100. 

Gasoline is currently at $5.50 per gallon. Meat is 2 to 4 times per pound what it costs in Lincoln. Simple meals at a restaurant start at $25. Hotels are $140 - $250 for a double room depending on the location. Boat rides on the lakes start at $30. Round trip rides on the cable cars are $50 - $120 depending on how high they go.

So managing the cost for 3 months in Switzerland was a potential challenge for these two chintzy Lincolnites.

So what are we doing to help manage the cost for this "once-in-a-lifetime" journey?

1. We are staying in apartments in private homes instead of hotels. By using Airbnb and Homeaway we were able to find Ferienwohnungs (holiday homes) in smaller villages away from the more popular tourist towns for $50 to $80 per night. That still adds up - but it is far better than $140 to $250 per night and we have an apartment with kitchen in a quiet location vs a single hotel room.

2. We are not eating at restaurants. While many food items are very expensive, bread, peanut butter, some fruits (nectarines, grapes, bananas, apples), apple sauce, apple juice, yogurt, spaghetti, potatoes, and lettuce are all comparable in price to Lincoln. The grocery stores are modern and we look for items on sale just like we do at home. Aldi's, Migro's, and Coop all have an extensive selection of quality foods. So - the basic menu is . . . yogurt with fruit (or bread with Nutella) and coffee for breakfast; peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with fruit for lunch; and spagetti and salad and bread for dinner (or boiled potatoes or apple sauce or Rosti with some fried brats mixed in now and then). :-)

3. By leasing a 40 mpg SUV thru France's Renault buy-back program, we were able to reduce the cost (vs normal car rental) by 40%.

4. By flying Iceland air out of Denver, we were able to reduce the RT cost of flights by 30%.

So -  back to the journey . . .

Yesterday, we drove a circuit through the country side between Schwyz and Zurich passing by lake Ageri (Agerisee) and then strolled along lake Zug (Zugersee) and the streets in the old part (Altstadt) of Zug. It is always interesting to try to envision what it was like in earlier centuries with the carts and animals in the narrow winding streets.

From a park beside lake Ageri (Agerisee) in the village of Unterageri

Lake Zug (Zugersee)

In the Zug altstadt (old city)

Aug 4 Engelberg and Bergenstock

First - I would like to thank all those who sent me happy birthday wishes yesterday. Central Switzerland was a great place to turn 72. The birthday wishes were the cake while Switzerland provided the icing on the cake. :-)
Last monday, while visiting the Schwyz museum, we learned that Switzerland has over 1200 miles of tunnels for trains and cars. That plus the cliff side roads are a testament to Swiss engineering. Yesterday we drove through (perhaps) a dozen tunnels and over several miles of cliffside roads on our 40 mile drive to Engelberg. One of the tunnels was roughly 6 miles in length. Engelberg is at the end of a valley that runs south from the lake of Lucern. Originally the setting for a monastery and since the later 1800s a popular mountain resort.
Since we do not have a set agenda for each day, we get up and have breakfast and look at the map and decide where to go for the day. I prefer to target the secondary roads and smaller villages as they are less congested and you never know what adventures you might discover off the beaten path - a castle, a stone covered bridge, or a remote hotel with a terrace view.
Yesterday, after exploring Engelberg, we decided to drive to Bergenstock, a point on the map with a view overlooking the lake of Lucerne. The gps said part of the route required a special permit - but the map only showed a narrow secondary road with no evidence of restrictions. Okay - what is the worst that can happen? We will come to a sign that says "permit required" and have to turn back. But our gps has a mind of its own which I have come to admire (most of the time). It took us on a route different from what I had anticipated on a twisting road leading up to Bergenstock. Near the top, where we expected to find a scenic view of the lake (according to the map), we drove into an area of extensive construction for new hotels. The road became very narrow and then came to a golf course (of which there are very few in Switzerland). The road became so narrow that it appeared we were on a path for golf carts (we met one). Finally I stopped and ask some golfers for directions. Fortunately they spoke excellent English and were able to confirm that we were on the correct road. A short distance further, the road widened again and there was a spot where several cars were parked along the road. So we parked to stretch our legs and then noticed the Hotel Villa Honegg on a nearby hill. We walked to the hotel and discovered a terrace overlooking the lake where we could sit and have a coffee-creme. Our waiter was a young man from Slovenia who spoke excellent English (he had worked in the states for a while) so we chatted with him for a few minutes. The hotel wi-fi was very strong so we sat on the terrace and took in the view and emailed some pictures and videos. A helicopter landed on a field about 100 yards from the terrace and a family came to the terrace. Not a bad way to travel.
Okay - enough already - on to some pictures.

An early 1900s promotion of Engelberg.

(The text below the picture is in English)

Pictures from the Engelberg museum with displays

typical of early valley life.

The Hotel Villa Honegg near Burgenstock

The hotel terrace (looking toward the hotel)

The view from the terrace to Lake Lucerne

We want one of these.  :-)

Aug 3 Virg's BD

Hacking the blog to say.....Happy Birthday Virg!   

This pix was taken in Lucerne.......the city noted for it's "covered" bridge.

Leaving Denver for Zurich!

Farmhouse in Hasliberg.

Wish you each could come have a cup of

Swiss Cappuccino and cookies to celebrate!!~

Aug 3 Einsiedeln

In Italy the saying is "All roads lead to Rome". In Switzerland, I think the saying should be "All roads lead to pastoral Alpine views", at least for our midwestern eyes. Yesterday we drove the narrow Laburgstrasse (Laburg road) over the Mythen pass to the region of Einsiedeln. If the narrow roads had more turn outs where you could stop (there are very few), it would be challenging to complete the 50 km drive. There would be too many stops to soak in the view and take pictures.

Sihlsee (Lake Sihl) near Einsiedeln

View from the village of Oberiberg

From St Meinrad

(a spot in the road with a guest house and small historic chapel)

Interior of a small chapel at St Meinrad

Single lane stone bridge near St Meinrad

Benedictine Monastery in Einsiedeln

Inside the monastery

Back at our farm house apt near Schwyz

(from the kitchen window)

Aug 2 Swiss National Day celebration in Schwyz

Yesterday, we woke up to cows (with bells) grazing just outside of our kitchen window.

Schwyz held a community celebration (for the Swiss National Day) in a large white tent at a lake park called Seewen Bad.  The program started at 11:00 with a quartet playing instrumental music, then music by a jodeling club and a band, a welcome by the community president, a speech by a German - Swiss diplomat, and a free lunch consisting of salad and bread with a grilled brat and a rice dish.

Strings of Swiss flags are a common decoration

for the Swiss National Day

Instrumental Quartet in the Schwyz community event tent

Yodeling club

Community band

Kettles of rice dish ready to be served

Serving line

Brat with rice dish, salad and bread

That evening at 10:00 pm, there was a fireworks display on 

Lake Lucerne visible from our balcony.

This is a view of Schwyz from the south. The taller peak (Gross Mythen) rises 3300 feet above Schwyz. Now here is a challenge for you . . . if you zoom in on this picture, you can find a red building (actually a house) next to the forested hill that slopes down from the right (about 2/3 of the way down). The building is very small in the picture but has a distinct red color (it is the house you see in the picture above with the cows). Just to the left of the red house you will see a  grouping of buildings. That is the farm where we are staying.